132. Hawk’s Song
Exiting the facility, the voice is silent. A pair of Glinthawks scramble from above at the activity, but there’s enough ground cover to avoid them if you wish.
Making your way back to Tapwash, you’ll need to figure out how to explain things to the villagers. The kidnapped workers don’t have any broader context on the voice than what they saw, and it’s up to you how much you want to tell them. Telling them too much may embolden them to try to reenter the facility to raid it for supplies, but telling them too little may make them superstitious about the place. The Cauldron will eventually replenish its supply of guard machines, if reinforcements aren’t already on their way, making the delve even more potentially deadly. Either way, you should advocate for a way of ensuring no more people are lured away.
Returning to Tapwash, you reunite some families, but extinguish hope in others. Everyone pulls together, and long conversations ensue to decide how to move forward. Your meals, repairs, and bedding are covered for as long as you choose to stay.
The four unconscious people wake up, one at a time, over the course of the day. They are weak, unable to even stand, and they can’t keep down anything other than water and lukewarm broth.
The two Utaru who no one knows much about are Neha and Bennid, a husband and wife pair of Pinned Scythes. When they can talk, which isn’t until the following day, they explain how they were commissioned in Deeproot to check on the village when a merchant brought word of the strange disappearances. Neither knows anything about a second pair of Scythes, and the Taproot villagers agree that the second pair showed up a month later. When the villagers describe them, none of the kidnapped workers recognizes the descriptions.
Hearing this makes Adri and Jupi even more agitated to get on the road again to the next village along the Southtap. If there are more Cauldrons with singing Glinthawks, that could explain tales of everyone in a village disappearing overnight without bloodshed. Adri is conflicted, as she would also like to stay to ensure Neha and Bennid get back on their feet. She could be convinced to join you, or to catch up later.
The next village to the east is South Weave, just over 100mi/161km from Tapwash. Jupi explains how to get there: due east for 50mi/80km, until you see Thunderjaw’s Toe, a large mesa similar to Hawk’s Song. From there you can curve north around the formation, which is a longer but flatter route, and you’ll spend hours doubling back at the end, or you can head southeast into the canyons. The southeast road is harder but more direct, with many elevation changes and canyons which all look the same, but the land is quite fertile, making it easier to find food along the way.